The million-dollar question for every Game of Thrones fan: Can House of the Dragon revive the magic that made the first few seasons of Game of Thrones the greatest T.V. show ever? Well, I think there’s a chance.
As I said, Game of Thrones was the unquestionable king of television during its final few seasons on air. No show in television history garnered as much fame, popularity, interest, curiosity, and speculation as Game of Thrones did, especially during those final two season. The Season 8 Premier on HBO gathered 17.1M viewers alone, while the subsequent episodes earned 15.9M (Episode 2), 17.8M (Episode 3), 17.2M (Episode 4), 18.4M (Episode 5), and 19.3M (Episode 6).
That’s a combined total of 105.7M viewers for just one season of the show. In comparison, most network T.V. shows don’t see a quarter of those numbers in a 3–4-year life span.
Yet, despite the millions upon millions of viewers and their varying theories on how the show was going to end, the collective opinion about the final season once the show actually did end was unified: it was horrible!
Despite having 73 episodes across eight seasons, impressively, Game of Thrones only managed to have 5 episodes score below a 75% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Do you how many of those were from Season 8?
If you said four, you’d be correct as Episode 3: “The Long Night” (74%), Episode 4: “The Last of the Starks” (58%), Episode 5: “The Bells” (49%), and Episode 6: “The Iron Throne” (47%) all came in below the average 75% rating. That’s horrific from a show that only had one episode (Season 5-Episode 6: “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken” (54%)) in seven years to be below 75%. Moreover, the audience opinions of said Season 8 episodes on Rotten Tomatoes make the critics scores seem tame in comparison.
Anyway, the failure of Season 8 has been well documented and doesn’t need further discussion as House of the Dragon is upon us. And, thankfully, HOTD showrunner Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik seemed to have learned and correct D&D’s mistakes by creating a fascinating, thrilling political/family drama that just so happens to feature almighty, fire-breathing dragons.
(HBO-House of the Dragon-Fire Will Reign Official Promo)
Everything from the trailers, promo material, character descriptions on HBO Max, and cast/crew interviews have reassured me (and most of the Game of Thrones/ASOIAF fan community) that this show will look lore-accurate and developed to HBO’s best ability, while also being heavily (very important word here) adapted from the books.
Plus, judging by the fan reactions from those who attended the HOTD premier in California a few weeks ago, this show will easily surpass the latter season of GOT in terms of quality, visuals, and storytelling.
Furthermore, this show does not suffer the fatal flow that Game of Thrones had: an unfinished story. The entire story of the Dance of the Dragons (and even the 130 years prior and 3-4 years after) has been fully written and detailed by George R.R. Martin in his 2018 Fire And Blood novel. Unlike D&D, Condal and Sapochnik didn’t (and definitely shouldn’t) need to come up with important plot points and character arcs as everyone this show will portray has been documented extensively by Martin.
The only thing the showrunners need to do is flesh out said characters and write convincing dialogue scenes as the book was only a history retelling of the follow up and war itself. If they master that, then this show will be golden.
(HBO-House of the Dragon-Fire Will Reign Official Promo)
Anyway, where this show will need to prove itself is with the disgruntled, casual fans of GOT who have given up completely on the GOT/ASOIAF franchise. As long as the show is great, it will be able to get these fans back on board the GOT franchise hype train. However, it may take time and a few more episodes (probably around Episode 5-6) before the mass public and critic world gets behind the show too.
Nonetheless, I have full confidence and faith in Ryan Condal, Miguel Sapochnik, and George R.R. Matin’s ability to tell a complex, emotional, dark, and ruthless story (which the Dance of the Dragons is) that will not only capture the hearts of the fanbase, but also change pop-culture again as Game of Thrones did before it.
If this show is a massive success once Season 1 is all said and done, then the possibilities of this franchise could be endless. We’ll have to wait and see how the premier goes tomorrow night at 9PM.
Image Sources: Featured Image: (HBO) (Fire Will Reign Official Promo | House of the Dragon | HBO Max – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (HBO) (Fire Will Reign Official Promo | House of the Dragon | HBO Max – YouTube)
In Text Image 2: (HBO) (Fire Will Reign Official Promo | House of the Dragon | HBO Max – YouTube)
